When comparing these data to available national statistics that estimate participation in youth soccer, true injury rates may actually be decreasing for boys and girls. Young children should be closely supervised because of risk of head injuries and rate of hospitalization. The establishment of a national database of soccer participation and injury data is needed to better identify injury risks.

No abstract

The epidemiologic features of pediatric ice skating-related injuries differ from those of roller skating--and in-line skating-related injuries. Children should wear helmets during all recreational skating activities, especially ice skating, because of the risk of serious head injuries. Wrist guards should be worn to protect against the common upper-extremity fractures sustained during skating.

Internet- and telephone-based surveillance systems can be successfully used to conduct illness and injury surveillance among children attending summer camp. Data collected via such systems can be used to calculate illness and injury rates, to describe patterns of illness and injury, and to identify risk factors for camper-related illness and injury. Given the millions of children attending summer camp yearly, a surveillance system such as this can provide the data needed to develop evidence-based prevention interventions to decrease the number of youth whose camp experiences are negatively affected by illness and injury.

This study found that paediatric iceskaters and roller/inline skaters fall similarly and that both types of skaters try to break their falls with their arms or hands; however, because iceskating takes place on a low friction surface, attempts to break falls with the arms or hands are often unsuccessful, leading to head and face injuries. The development of a new type of protective gear, a wrist guard with a non-slip palm, should stop iceskaters from striking the head, protect against upper extremity fractures, and unlike a bulky helmet, should not discourage children from skating.